Dennis Rodman Drinking Apology Follows Outburst on Kenneth Bae

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman apologized for his bizarre outburst earlier this week and said he was drinking when he made the controversial comments about imprisoned American Kenneth Bae.

Rodman, who is in North Korea for an exhibition basketball game that took place this week, said in a statement through his publicist that he was sorry for going off on CNN's Chris Cuomo Tuesday and saying, among other things, "I don't give a rat's ass what the hell you think."

"I want to apologize," Rodman said in the statement, obtained by The Associated Press. "I take full responsibility for my actions. It had been a very stressful day. Some of my teammates were leaving because of pressure from their families and business associates. My dreams of basketball diplomacy was quickly falling apart. I had been drinking. It's not an excuse but by the time the interview happened I was upset. I was overwhelmed. It's not an excuse, it's just the truth."

During his rant, Rodman implied that North Korea is justified in imprisoning Bae, who was arrested in the Communist country in November 2012 for unspecified "hostile acts" and has been held captive ever since.

"I want to first apologize to Kenneth Bae's family," Rodman said in his statement. "I want to apologize to my teammates and my management team. I also want to apologize to Chris Cuomo. I embarrassed a lot of people. I'm very sorry. At this point I should know better than to make political statements. I'm truly sorry."

"Kenneth's imprisonment for the past 14 months has been a devastating experience for our whole family, and then to hear Dennis Rodman, who has refused to help — and that's his prerogative — then to have him hurl these outrageous accusations at Kenneth is just completely appalling and we were just upset and shocked," she said.

Rodman also made headlines this week when he sang "Happy Birthday" to Kim Jong Un, whom he again called his "best friend."